Return Policy
by LoveandLearn
Summary: One-shot. Derek and Addison's son is not too fond of his new little sister.


Derek stood in the hospital elevator with his son all but glued to his leg in the small crowd of people. As soon as the elevator stopped on their floor Derek reached out to take the child's hand. "Are you excited?" he asked the four year old while guiding him through busy hallways.

"To be at the hospibable?" Michael asked, giving his father a questioning glance. He had been at the hospital a few times with his nanny to meet his parents for lunch but he had never been there so early in the morning.

"No, silly, to see your little sister and Mommy."

"Oh!" Michael's face lit up and he clutched Derek's had a little tighter when they reached the door. "Daddy?" he spoke up nervously, stopping Derek from opening the door.

"What is it?"

"What if she doesn't like me?" he asked in genuine concern.

"She is too little to know how to not like people." Derek told him reassuringly. "She is going to grow up with you, you're going to be her big brother so she's going to automatically love you more than anyone else in the world."

"Like Unca Archer and Mommy?" Michael asked.

Derek grimaced just slightly at the mention of his brother-in-law and the thought that he and the rest of the Montgomery family would be visiting in the near future to meet the newest addition to their family. "Yeah." he finally answered, "Just like them." he said before reaching for the knob to open the door.

Michael slowly followed his father into the room, doing his best to partially hide behind his legs until he could determine that the baby was nothing to be afraid of.

"Hi, Mikey." he heard a familiar feminine voice call out to him. That's when he left his safe haven behind Derek's legs to see his mother sitting up in the hospital bed with a bundle in her arms. "Why are you hiding behind Daddy?" she asked.

"He's a little shy and anxious about meeting his little sister." Derek explained, lifting the child into his arms before going closer to the bed.

"Don't worry, honey, she loves you already." Addison promised.

"How do ya know?" Michael asked her doubtfully.

"She told me."

"She's a baby, Mommy. Babies don't tawk cuz they's too little. You're a baby docta, you gotta to know that!" he shot back quickly.

"You're right, but I'm her mom and I know what she's thinking all the time just like I always know what you're thinking." she replied. "And right now she really wants to meet her big brother."

Derek set Michael down on the edge of his mother's bed. He stood beside his family, watching Michael climb up on his knees and lean over to get a close up view at the baby his mother was holding. "What do you think?" he asked.

"She's really little." he whispered, refusing to look away from the baby. "Is she supposed to be this little?"

"She's only a few hours old. She's supposed to be this little. She'll get bigger as she gets older, don't worry." Addison explained.

"What's her name?"

"We don't know yet." Derek answered. "We have a few choices but we wanted to wait for you to help us make the final choice."

"We like Aria Elizabeth Shepherd or Avery Madeline Shepherd."

"Aria or Avery?" Michael asked. "I's like Avery."

"Avery Madeline?"

Michael shook his head. "Avery Elizabeth." he said. "Cuz my name is Michael Archer and Unca Archie is your brother. And Aunt Liz's real name is Elizabeth and she's Daddy's sister."

Derek smiled at the little boy. "I think that is a great idea, Michael." he said approvingly. "Avery Elizabeth Shepherd it is."

* * *

"Daddy, how come you and Mommy is not at work?" Michael asked curiously.

"We are not at work because we just had a baby." Derek explained. "We both get a few weeks off to take care of the baby."

"We always do fun stuff when you don't work!" he exclaimed. "Can we go on a ferry ride? Or the really big toy store? We have have frozen hot chocolates at Sere.."

"Serendipity."

"Yeah, there! And we can go to Central Park. I'll go tell Mommy to get ready."

"No! No, don't go tell Mommy to get ready. She's sleeping."

"She's always sleeping!" Michael complained.

"She just had a baby five days ago, Michael. Avery wakes up every few hours and Mommy and I get up to feed her and change her. We're both really tired."

"Avery's boring too! All she does is sleep and cry. And she makes you and Mommy tired and that's not fair cuz then you won't do stuffs with me!"

"I know it's not fair, I'm sorry. We're trying as hard as we can but the first few weeks are going to be really hard for all of us." he tried to explain to the child. "I called Grandma to come pick you up though so you can do something fun with her while Mommy and I stay home with the baby."

"Why can't I do something fun with you? Mommy can stay home with the boring baby and we'll go out!" he suggested hopefully.

"I can't leave Mommy alone with the baby." Derek told his son.

"Why not? She's a baby docta. She knows how to take care of a baby."

"Because being a baby's doctor is different from being a baby's mother or father. Being a parent is much more tiring and its not easy to do it alone."

A quiet knock on the front door interrupted their conversation.

"That's probably your grandmother now. Let's go open the door before she knocks again or rings the bell and wakes Mommy and the baby." Derek said to his son. He held his hand out to the little boy and led him over to the door to meet his grandmother.

Carolyn smiled at her son and grandson, she looked happier than the pair had ever seen her. She lifted Michael into her arms and hugged him tightly as she stepped into the Brownstone. "Where are the girls?" she asked Derek.

"They are upstairs sleeping." Derek whispered, tiredly rubbing his eyes. "Avery is still settling in and adjusting, she kept us up all night. Woke up every hour on the hour. Addison is exhausted. She's in bed."

Carolyn gave Derek a sympathetic look. "The first few weeks are always hard. And Michael started sleeping through the night really early on so you are no used to it. It will get better."

Derek nodded. "Let's hope so. I won't last much longer if it continues like this."

"You know, when Amelia was born your father was ready to rip his hair out too. He was having a hard time juggling four kids during the day and a baby at night. You only have one other child, he'd be laughing at you if he were here."

"I just need some sleep." Derek whined tiredly.

"So I guess now is not the best time to ask about the third…"

"Third?" Derek's eyes bugged out at the thought, "There will be no third. This is it. We stop here."

* * *

Carolyn had a special bond with all of her grandchild, she was a fantastic grandmother and she knew it. Despite her slight dislike for Addison at the beginning of the marriage, Carolyn had come around. She was ecstatic when Michael was born and she had been more excited than anyone when Addison and Derek announced their second pregnancy.

"How are you liking being a big brother, Champ?" Carolyn asked him when they stopped to get lunch that afternoon.

Michael shrugged nonchalantly.

"Uh oh..." Carolyn said teasingly. "What does that mean?"

"She's boring." Michael complained. "And she makes Mommy and Daddy really tired all the time. All she does is sleep, cry, eat and poop. She's 'posed to play wif me and Mommy and Daddy not make everyone tired and cranky."

"She's only a few days old, little guy. She will play with you when she gets older. In a few months. In a year she'll be walking and talking and she won't give you a break."

"I dunno how long six months is..." Michael admitted. "But I don't wanna wait that long."

"You don't really have a choice, buddy. You'll get used to it." Carolyn promised. "Your aunt Nancy was three and a half when your daddy was born. She was not happy about having a new baby in the house either but then he got older and they became best friends. Kathleen was a few years older than them and they would always play pranks on her. Maybe you and your sister can play pranks on your older cousins. I'm sure your dad will teach you everything he knows if you ask him."

Michael momentarily considered the idea but then shook his head. "Can we just take her back?"

"Take her back?"

"Yeah, when Mommy goes shopping she always buys things for Daddy too except sometimes he doesn't like what she buys him and they return it. Can we return her? Like just take her back to the hospital where they got her?"

Carolyn couldn't help but chuckle. After taking a moment to compose herself she shook her head to answer her grandson's question. "No, sweetheart, I'm sorry, you can't return your sister like Mommy and Daddy return clothes."

"How come?" the child asked her curiously.

She took a minute to think about it. She knew that Michael was only four and that she had to think of a child friendly explanation. "Because you need a receipt to return things." she told him. "And when people like what they have they throw away the receipt. I really don't think your parents kept the receipt to return Avery."

"Why not?"

"Because I think they really like her."

Michael gave his grandmother a confused look, "Why would they like her?" he asked. "I'm sure they have it, I'll find it."

* * *

Michael had gotten used to waking up in the middle of the night because of crying. At four years old he also knew that when his sister was crying it meant both of his parents were up and either in the nursery or downstairs. Derek and Addison did all feedings and changing together because it wouldn't be fair for one to be up while the other slept. Michael waited until he heard the footsteps going down the stairs before sneaking out of his room and into the master bedroom. He tiptoed into the walk in closet and eyes his mother's shelf of purses. He figured if there was still a receipt it had to be in one of his mother's purses.

"Michael?" he heard a voice from behind and knew he had been caught red handed.

He slowly turned around with a black leather Bottega Venta purse in his hand to see his mother standing in the doorway.

"What are you doing?" she asked with one brow suspiciously raised.

"You're 'posed to be feeding Avery."

"Your father is downstairs feeding her. I came to check on you. Are you stealing ice cream money from my purse or something? Because you could just ask."

Michael shook his head. "Not stealing." he told his mother surely.

"Then what are you doing?" she pressed on curiously.

"Looking for a receipt."

"A receipt? For what?"

"For Avery."

"You're looking for a receipt for Avery?" Addison repeated, trying to hold back the urge to laugh or even crack a smile. "Why do you need the receipt? Do you want to exchange her or return her or something?"

"Grandma says you like her a lot so you probably already threw the receipt away so we can't return her."

Addison let out a breath held her hand out to her son. "Come here, buddy, I can't carry you until all my post-baby owies are better so we have to settle for hand holding."

"Post-baby owies?" Michael asked as she followed his mother's lead out of the closet.

"Nevermind." she told him as she patted down on her empty bed for him to take a seat. "Mikey, we can't return your little sister."

"Because you threw away the receipt? Maybe we can call the trash people and ask them if they could find it?" He offered hopefully.

"No, we can't return Avery because she's your little sister and my daughter. I loved her from the moment I knew she existed, just like I did with you. I know its a hard adjustment right now but it will get better. You just have to give it time and you'll learn to love her too. Okay?"

Michael gave her a skeptical look. He was not sure if he could agree.

"You don't have to like her right now." His mother repeated. "But you do have to learn to love her and in order for that to happen you have to give her a chance."

"Okay." Michael nodded his head.

Addison gave him a big, warm smile. "Thank you, sweetheart." She said softly as she pressed a kiss to his temple. "You are going to be a great big brother. I know it. Once Avery is a little older and more active you are going to be best friends."

"Like you and Unca Archer?"

"Just like me and Unca Archer."

Michael gave her a content nod as he jumped off of her lap and headed toward the door. He stopped short of the exit and turned back with a question, "But Mommy, are you sure you didn't save the receipt? Just in case. What if she gets older and she's still boring and we have to exchange her?"

* * *

Fun fact: This is based on a true story. I wanted to return my sister when she was an infant and I just couldn't understand why its not possible. My mother told me it was because she threw away the receipt and they wouldn't take her back without a receipt so I looked through the whole house to find that receipt. I was really disappointed when it didn't turn up. I was four and a half at the time. Many years later that horrible moment of realization that I'm stuck with the little creature has inspired a fluffy fanfic.

A review would be kinda cool. I'd love to hear how the older siblings reacted to the younger ones' birth. Anyone else out there want to return the little rugrat? I could not be alone with that idea.


End file.
